I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: Proposal for a Council Decision on adding hate speech and hate crime to the areas of crime laid down in Article 83(1) of th…

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I thank all colleagues for their contributions and broad support for the motion. I said a great deal in my introductory remarks but will make a few points that reflect so much of what has been said in the debate. First, there are people living in this country who are afraid. They are afraid to leave their houses, go on public transport and live their lives the way I and others here do. That might sound extreme or like I am exaggerating. Before we published the draft Bill, the hate crime Bill, there was much consult…

I start by wishing everyone, particularly my female colleagues, a happy International Women's Day. Over the past ten days or so, the images reaching us of the devastation from Ukraine have been shocking and almost incomprehensible. One of the dangers for us, at this remove, is that we become inured to the violence and suffering, that the repetition and relentlessness of these images and stories simply becomes too much, that we become desensitised, that we turn away. It is important that we guard against this and th…

Yes. The events of the past week have rightly caused anger and disgust across our Continent and across the world. Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign state, is unprovoked, illegal, a blatant disregard of international law and, most importantly, shows a blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life. It is the act of an autocratic and dangerous bully with no regard for any interests but his own. It is important to say that this is Putin's war. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, outl…

I thank Senator Boylan for bringing forward the Bill. I join colleagues in welcoming family members to the Seanad. I acknowledge each and every one of them. I acknowledge what they have been through and continue to go through and I wish to say how sorry I am that after 41 years, we are still here. I acknowledge that 41 years ago, 48 young people went out on a night out, as we all have done, to enjoy themselves and celebrate St. Valentine's Day and never came home. As colleagues have said, more than 200 other people…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 84 together. The Deputy focuses on rural issues in his question. I might address city centres, towns and villages in my second response. My thoughts are with the victims of the most recent horrific attacks. This happened in their own home. It should never happen to anybody. An Garda Síochána is conducting a criminal investigation. I hope the Deputy appreciates that I will not comment specifically on individual cases. However, I know that I speak for everyone in this House in …

I agree with the Deputy's comment that when something like this happens, particularly when an elderly person is living at home, there is fear about it. There is an onus on all of us to make sure that we do not exaggerate or create a greater fear. Something like this is rare. It is horrifying and terrible for the people it happens to and we need to make sure that those who perpetrate it are brought to justice. We also need to make sure that we speak to our communities, that older people do not feel vulnerable in the…

In response to the Deputy's last comment, I think that, more in the past two years, people have seen just how proactive An Garda Síochána is, including in responding to emergencies and crimes as they occur and in the proactivity with which it has responded through Covid-19, reaching out to communities and looking at domestic violence. It is a fact that An Garda Síochána actively went back to people who had been victims previously to make sure they were okay. It is very clear that the work the Garda does is not just…

In response to two specific points the Deputy has raised, in areas in certain parts of the city that people feel are less safe at night, there are particular operations in place. From 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. there are specific gardaí allocated along our boardwalks and in certain other areas where we know there has been an increase in recent times in assaults and where people, in particular women on their own, do not feel safe walking. As for trains and our public transport, again, there has been a specific targeted respon…

To reassure the Deputy and colleagues again, an investment of more than €2 billion, an increase of a third in less than six years, shows the commitment that is there to An Garda Síochána. It represents more than 60% of my justice Vote in total, so, obviously, there is a huge amount of investment overall going into An Garda Síochána, in personnel, equipment, cars, bicycles and the types of IT they need. There will be significant investment made in IT over the years to come in order to make sure that the Garda is as …

I am conscious that all the families impacted by the incidents seen by many of us in the recent RTÉ series have had to revisit issues that happened in the past. It has impacted them, and they have suffered over the years because of the way in which those investigations were conducted. Such incidents cast a shadow over the trust we place in our criminal justice and policing systems to ensure justice is done. It is important to note, however, that these investigations happened several decades ago and the safeguards a…

There is no doubt but that the alleged practices, which were detailed once again in the recent programme, were unacceptable at the time and they certainly would not be tolerated today. I know and understand the impact this has had and the deep hurt it has caused to many different families that were represented, and this aspect was highlighted in the series. Several of the investigations themselves have previously been the subject of court proceedings, pardons and State apologies. In addition, there have been associ…

The many things I outlined in my initial response, including the new laws that have been put in place, the new policies and the new code of conduct to ensure that we hold An Garda Síochána to the highest standards, all acknowledge that work needed to be done in this regard. I must again stress that we have a robust system in place now. Those who are wrongly accused suffered greatly. Equally, victims were involved here and families who, unfortunately, did not get justice, and they continue to suffer too. We must be …

As the Deputy is aware, the general data protection regulation, GDPR, is an EU regulation, by which Ireland is bound. The European Court of Justice is responsible for the interpretation of European law, including the GDPR. The right to be forgotten is a data protection right, which the European Court of Justice developed in 2014 after the Google Spain case. In this ruling, the court established that users could ask search engines to hide certain URLs from search results when a search is conducted using their name a…

The response of the Department of Justice is that we must uphold the European laws and regulations that have been set out. If there is a situation in which somebody believes information that should not be removed has been removed, that person, be it Deputy Naughten or anybody else, has the right to make a complaint, which would be address by the Data Protection Commissioner. The law is there. It is very clear. The companies are to adhere to that law and there is a process in place whereby a person can make a compla…

The laws and guidelines area clear. The companies are to adhere to them. I have no problem in restating exactly what the companies are required to do. Individuals must have a right to apply for the right to be forgotten. However, it is very clear where it is relevant to the public interest, including previous convictions, that has to be applied. If companies are not applying this, a complaint can be made. I am clear what the laws and rules are and how the companies should be applying them. I will have no problem re…

At a time when we celebrate the centenary of service by the members and staff of An Garda Síochána, I am pleased to say that the Government is in a position to continue to increase the number of gardaí on our streets. A sign of that was seen last week with the new recruitment competition that was launched by An Garda Síochána through the Public Appointments Service. Budget 2022 includes an unprecedented allocation, in excess of €2 billion, to An Garda Síochána. As I said earlier, this is an increase of one third on…

As the Deputy rightly said, where gardaí are deployed to or how they might be redeployed is a matter for the Commissioner but also for gardaí locally within the divisions and districts. From my own experience, while a member of An Garda Síochána starting out is sent further from home, as time goes on and as families evolve, where there are requests there is generally an appetite and a response to try to accommodate as many people as possible. Even in recent times through Covid-19 and in response to requests to have…

I am aware of reports of the nature referred to by the Deputy. I assure him that the matter is being taken very seriously and is under consideration by the Government. I cannot imagine the level of distress that somebody must feel, particularly a tenant, where people are in a vulnerable position or living on their own and find themselves not being able to pay their rent. On top of that, they find themselves being propositioned or put into a very difficult situation where they feel they may not have any option or ve…